


Hanover's Seed

by Fabrisse



Category: Edward and Mrs. Simpson (TV)
Genre: Crack, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-14
Updated: 2011-12-14
Packaged: 2017-10-27 08:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/293795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabrisse/pseuds/Fabrisse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is an AU based on the mini-series "Edward and Mrs. Simpson" which aired on PBS in the late 1970s.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hanover's Seed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Vyola](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vyola/gifts).



> Betaed by Gileswench

The Jackson County (Kansas) Garden Club had always been ruled by the Hanover family. They’d been among the first settlers here in 1854; their land had, at one time, encompassed the whole county. These days, though, they had five acres, the ancestral -- since 1870 -- home, and a sterling reputation as the leading gardeners, not just in Jackson County, but in the entire state.

Mrs. Albert Hanover, nee Edwards, had founded the Garden Club in 1860, and had been most put out by the Civil War hindering her plans to make their estate, which at that point consisted of a log cabin with two extensions, a show place for beauty and practical modern farming. Her ambition was realized with the cessation of hostilities and the stringent cross-pollination work her husband had performed on kale. They sent seeds to Portugal, and Hanoverian Kale won the vegetable division of the 1865 World’s Fair held in Oporto. By the time of the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, when the Hanoverian strain of peas won in the legumes, the kale still took top place in the cruciferous division -- beating out both Hanoverian cauliflower and Hanoverian broccoli -- the floral divisions were resounding with the glory of Hanoverian primroses, phlox, and iris. The Jackson County (Kansas) Garden Club was a force in the gardening world.

David Hanover, the eldest son of George and Mary Hanover, was considered a little daring, but essentially sound, on the subject of gardening. He’d won a state fair when still under sixteen by entering his dog roses in the “other vegetables” category and producing delicious rose petal syrup and rose hip marmalade as his justifications. There was a bit of a scandal when he won, but no one could deny his utter charm and his way with a delicate flower.

His parents did not approve of some of his associations. Miss Freda and Miss Thelma -- distant cousins who were often seen, individually, in his company -- were not quite reliable on the matter of sweet peas and lilies, respectively. But George and Mary refrained from saying too much as they were both excellent outdoor gardeners who concentrated on tea roses and bramble fruits, respectively, and who, in a pinch, could help a wayward son focus on the beauties and robustness of Hanoverian seeds.

As his parents were getting a little past it for long-distance travel, David was given the job, as heir apparent to the dynasty, of promoting the good works of the Jackson County (Kansas) Garden Club to the world -- or at least the bits of the country who were interested in gardening and outside of Kansas. If the speech needed to be made in Topeka or Smallville, then George or Mary would drive out to give it with an array of vans escorting them to display the wonders of Hanoverian husbandry and the glorious work of the Jackson County (Kansas) Garden Club. When the offers were made from further afield, like Arvada, Colorado or even Crescent City, California, it was David who was packed up with a suitcase full of samples and photographs and a large container of seedlings packed to precise specifications in the baggage compartment. His reputation burnished that of the Jackson County (Kansas) Garden Club, and, by extension the reputation of the Hanoverian Seed Corporation.

He was even branching out into judging both produce and flowers at other state fairs. (It wouldn’t be sporting for him to judge in Kansas, as all who belonged to the Jackson County (Kansas) Garden Club acknowledged.) His expertise, particularly in non-tea roses and miniature fruit trees, was widely sought -- even from as far away as Pennsylvania. The pinnacle of his judging success was the Pacific Southwest Exhibition in Long Beach. It was tense as he judged the sunflowers, and there were accusations of favoritism when it turned out the winner was from a Hanoverian strain, but all who witnessed his indignation at the charge, and saw the sunshine-fresh yellow of the winning bloom and the sturdy stalk holding the weighty seed head, could not help but feel his selection was right.

David had invited Miss Freda to join him on his jaunt West, but she, who had children to look after, recommended that he take Miss Thelma instead. There might have been a minor scandal when they were stranded on a side track for two nights due to a freak snowstorm near Big Bear, but David’s shining charisma – plus a two day stay in the hospital after their rescue – made the incident something never to be talked about in polite society; although, it did nothing but burnish Miss Thelma’s reputation as a potential hostess for garden parties and afternoon teas.

Several months after the unspoken of Big Bear incident, Miss Thelma and Miss Freda needed to go back East. They were taking along catalogues and seed samples to their respective destinations, but there was a worry expressed by all who knew David, that he might not be as well grounded, especially now that he was out at the Belvedere, a small house on the edge of the Hanover testing fields, if he did not have a companion in his breeding schemes.

It wasn’t well known outside the Jackson County (Kansas) Garden Club, but David Hanover had been going over new methods with some of the farmers in Kansas. He kept saying something should be done about the problems of cabbage production in the Midwest and he was using one of the smaller testing fields to perfect cruciferous growth patterns in semi-arid steppe conditions, an endeavor that was frowned upon by all right thinking people, not to mention his parents and the board of the Jackson County (Kansas) Garden Club.

The cousins thought they had found a solution in Mrs. Teakle Montague, a pen pal from San Francisco who had decided to come to Kansas to improve her growing skills in the shadow of Hanoverian Seeds.

When she first arrived in Jackson County, she bought a tiny house on a half acre with her husband – who traveled to Chicago a great deal – and an acre of land next to it. It was a minor scandal that Mr. Montague was her second husband, but it was nothing compared to the fact that she filled the half acre near their bungalow with _greenhouses_.

Now, it was universally acknowledged that greenhouses were useful in gardening as a way to produce hearty seedlings for planting in the rich Jackson County dirt. But for anyone to use greenhouses to grow fully mature fruits, flowers, and vegetables was anathema. Still, Mrs. Montague was growing her own asparagus in the other acre and her correspondence indicated she might have some interesting ideas on escarole, so Miss Thelma introduced her to David and told her to look after him.

Upon the return of the Misses Thelma and Freda from their respective jaunts back East, they discovered that they had been supplanted in David’s affections. No longer did he review the breeding records of bramble fruits with Miss Thelma, nor did he continue his attempts to cultivate the perfect peach-hued tea rose with Miss Freda. Indeed, as Mr. Stanley, current Chairman of the Jackson County (Kansas) Garden Club (of course, Mr. George Hanover was its President for Life) said to David, “Sir, it can’t be healthy to focus so tightly on the problems of escarole.” To which David Hanover had replied with a benign smile, “Let me assure you that Mrs. Montague and I are also extremely interested in developing a new celery.”

Mr. Stanley would have taken his statement at face value had not Mrs. Montague entered lemons, large and fragrant lemons, under the fruit category at the Kansas State Fair. From the point of view of Mr. Stanley, and, it must be said, of George and Mary Hanover as well, lemons, while indubitably a fruit, were, in Kansas, self-evidently an exotic and should have been entered under that catch-all category rather than trying to compete with the black cherries, plums, and pears which were the proud legacy of Hanoverian breeding. Moreover, these lemons -- juicy, thick zested, and virtually seedless -- could only have been produced in greenhouses. That these interlopers overtook the prize plums of Lizzie Hanover, who was married to David’s brother Al, was a smack in the face of the Jackson County (Kansas) Gardening Club and a direct affront to the house of Hanover and its seeds.

Miss Lizzie refused to shake the hand of Mrs. Teakle Montague after the judgment. She was appalled when her brother-in-law actually brought Mrs. Teakle Montague to his mother’s annual Harvest open house and introduced her to his parents. It took her a full hour reviewing her heirloom tomato breeding records to regain her sang-froid.

There were some who believed that David had the pulse of Jackson County in his veins, that he was destined to succeed his father, his grandfather, and even Mrs. Albert Hanover as President for Life. Others, and Mr. Stanley led them, worried about the effects of someone like Mrs. Teakle Montague on the morale and the morals of the Jackson County (Kansas) Garden Club. Suitable young ladies with an interest in gardening were brought to the Hanover estate from as far away as Cimarron and Medicine Lodge to be introduced to David, but more and more often, he was found at the Belvedere with his good friend Teakle.

Mr. Stanley spoke to Miss Winifred about it. Her family had worked beside the Hanovers for generations. The Jackson County (Kansas) Garden Club had never been without a member of the Church family, and Mr. Stanley valued her opinion even though they were divided on more specific issues such as the place of fancy lettuces in a salad garden.

Miss Winifred looked him in the eye and dropped her secateurs into an apron pocket. “Mister Stanley, while I cannot abide that Montague woman, I feel that David is the right man to lead the Jackson County (Kansas) Garden Club into a prosperous future. Surely, this will blow over, but if it does not, couldn’t we ask him to appoint another woman as his official hostess for club functions? Would that not alleviate all our worries?”

Mr. Stanley contemplated the suggestion. “Well, Miss Winifred, while it is far from ideal, David Hanover could indeed have another as his hostess. It could possibly be a competitive position from term to term.”

“We could hold canning and flower arranging contests to make certain the right kind of woman represented us.” Miss Winifred nodded thoughtfully. “Do you think you can get the approval of the other officers of the club?”

“I don’t know, Miss Winifred. It will be a sensitive subject, for David Hanover to expect the benefits of a lady’s housewifery without her being his actual wife...”

“But other Garden Clubs do it all the time. Just look at the situation in Nebraska.”

Mr. Stanley patted her hand. “You have a point, my dear.”

***  
The other officers were not in favor of the proposed suggestion. Not only did they not want to end up in the same straits as Nebraska, Miss Lizzie whose excellent breeding program and skill with bees was already being shared with her young daughter Lil was seen as the perfect lady for the President for Life, and David’s brother Al was a Hanover -- even if he had concentrated on wind break trees and woody shrubs rather than the more demanding annuals of a true gardener.

In the meanwhile, David Hanover was spending more and more time with Mrs. Teakle Montague. There were minor scandals cropping up in many private conversations among the members. For one thing, Mrs. Montague used canned pineapple in her jams to brighten the flavors. Her tisanes and posset spices were suggested for use in mulled wines and ciders rather than as wholesome soothing drinks of their own. And, it was rumored, she used a beekeeper from outside the county rather than Miss Lizzie.

These rumors and problems all came to the fore when Mrs. George Hanover, nee Teck, had the Presbyterian minister announce that her husband had, just the night before, died quietly in his sleep. Everyone looked to David for his reaction. David looked to Mrs. Teakle Montague. There was a collective gasp from the members of the Jackson County (Kansas) Garden Club who were in attendance.

Nor was it helped when, merely a week later, it was discovered that Mrs. Teakle Montague had divorced her husband in the courts of Wichita. Not only was the lady now twice a divorcee, but she had denied the good people of Jackson County the enjoyment of the court proceedings.

The board of directors of the Jackson County (Kansas) Garden Club took their Chairman aside and gave Mr. Stanley a piece of their collective minds. Miss Thelma and Miss Freda commented on Mrs. Teakle Montague’s hot house muscadine grapes and her accidental kumquat fiasco respectively, bolstering the case against David Hanover inheriting the Presidency for Life of the Jackson County (Kansas) Garden Club.

Mr. Stanley took the verdict to David Hanover personally, hoping he could dissuade him from a sad life excluded from the best gardens in the county.

David listened attentively, then turned to him, tears in his eyes, and said, “Mrs. Teakle Montague has become essential to my happiness. Her ability to keep my cucumbers straight and her delicate touch with my mirabelles are things I cannot envision living without.”

“You have made your decision then?”

“Yes, Mister Stanley, I have.”

“And the lady?”

“I put off asking her to marry me out of respect to my late father. The period of mourning will end next week, and I shall ask her then. I must tell you -- I expect a happy answer.”

Mr. Stanley went quietly to talk to Miss Winifred who suggested that they appeal to Mrs. Teakle Montague directly. The lady in question chose to withdraw herself and settled in for a ski holiday in Steamboat Springs rather than be the subject of gossip.

David visibly drooped. He went through her smallholdings as well as his own garden at Belvedere and refused to move back into the Hanover estate. When the next monthly meeting of the Jackson County (Kansas) Gardening Club arrived, he attended, hearing the speeches praising his work with high altitude maize for small farmers as well as his violas and foxgloves, but his heart was lonely for someone who understood his passion for fennel.

As the vote was about to be taken, David Hanover walked forward and said, “I cannot envisage a future leading the Jackson County (Kansas) Gardening Club without the woman I love beside me.” With great dignity, he walked out of the Presbyterian Church Hall. Later that evening, his brother and Mr. Stanley and Miss Winifred came to see him off on the train West to Steamboat Springs.

Months later, Al and Lizzie received a postcard from Sonoma County in California. Mrs. Teakle Montague was now Mrs. Teakle Hanover and they had settled on ten acres outside Santa Rosa.

Mrs. Teakle Hanover’s Exotic Jams have become a staple of fancy restaurants worldwide.

David Hanover continued to judge produce at County and State Fairs nationwide, even making a sufficient name for himself to judge in Canada. He never made it back to Kansas, however, only seeing his niece Miss Lil, after she took over the family business, at national competitions.

The Jackson County (Kansas) Garden Club survived. To this day there is a Hanover (currently an elderly Miss Lil, daughter of Al and Lizzie) as its President for Life, and Hanover Seeds and seedlings are still the epitome of proper husbandry, especially for organic growers.


End file.
